Just A Scratch
by butterfly.cell
Summary: “Nope, the only damage I can see is his neck.” Owen angled Ianto’s head to one side to show Jack the mark on the younger man’s skin. “See? Just a scratch.” - Jack/Ianto, M for the first chapter only
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: Just A Scratch  
**Rating**: FRAO/NSFW (this chapter only, rest are FRT)  
**Characters/Pairings**: Jack/Ianto; Owen, Tosh, Gwen  
**Spoilers**: DW S2 and TW S1&2 - nothing specific though  
**Warnings**: Smut; Minor Angst**  
**

**Summary**: _"Nope, the only damage I can see is his neck." Owen angled Ianto's head to one side to show Jack the mark on the younger man's skin. "See? Just a scratch."_

**Disclaimer**: I don't own them, other people do... RTD and the Beeb.

**shuffles around excitedly** You would not believe how excited I am about this fic... I started writing it last weekend in a bit of a mad scramble typing fest. I had the mental haze I got for 'Masquerade' and this one feels just as special to me. I don't know why, but I just feel really, really good about this fic! It just felt _right _as I was typing it... okay, so now I sound crazy - I'll just let you guys read it and judge for yourselves!

I really, really hope you guys enjoy this =]

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JUST A SCRATCH

CHAPTER 1

"Nope, the only damage I can see is his neck." Owen angled Ianto's head to one side to show Jack the mark on the younger man's skin. "See? Just a scratch."

Jack nodded, his fingers running across the back of one of Ianto's hands absently. He'd been reluctant to break physical contact with his lover since the attack in the cells – they'd simply been tucking up their latest inmate when he'd struck out and caught Ianto around the neck. A little more pressure from the sharpened nails and Ianto's jugular would've been torn wide open. Jack hadn't hesitated to shoot the alien dead – it had already killed five victims and he refused to add a sixth.

"Can you just sort it out please?" Ianto twitched his head free of Owen's grip and moved his hand a little, discreetly linking his fingers through Jack's. He just wanted to get out of the autopsy bay – the fluorescent strip lighting was starting to give him a headache – and make Jack stop envisioning his death. He wasn't dead yet and he sure as hell wouldn't let Jack forget that.

"Fine, fine…" Owen muttered, rolling his eyes as he rubbed some antiseptic gel across the scratch and let it dry as he dug out the can of Elastoplast spray. He turned round, checked Ianto's neck was dry and then sprayed a liberal layer of the waterproof film. It was more practical than a material plaster, but it would be just as protective. "Right, okay, that'll just wear away over time, so there's no issues with washing, etcetera."

"Good. Okay, I need coffee, you two both want one?" Ianto stood up, leaning into Jack surreptitiously and looking over at Owen. He tried to hide the wince as another flash of the bright lighting stabbed through his forehead. _Ouch_. Jack must've seen something, his hand squeezing a little on Ianto's as he crowded him ever so slightly as an act of protection. Ianto inhaled a lungful of Jack's scent, sending a warm comfort through him and easing the ache a little.

"Sure. We'll be up in a minute." Jack answered for them both and Ianto nodded, reluctantly extricating his fingers from Jack's and pulling away. He made his way up the stairs and through the Hub to the coffee machine. The lights were dimmer up here and the air just a little warmer. That, coupled with the smell of brewing coffee and the lingering warmth from Jack's touch, put a small, relaxed smile on his face.

It had been a tough day, but after finally managing to corner the alien, the feeling of a job well down was particularly strong – but then again, it always was when he'd had a brush with danger and escaped. Being relatively unscathed was just a lucky bonus. He shook the thoughts from his head and carried on making the drinks. He really just wanted them done and Owen's drunk and out of the way so he and Jack could head back to his flat. He knew that both of them would be needing some life-affirming activities before the day was out.

He gathered up the three mugs and headed over to the rec sofa, handing two of the drinks over before sitting down next to Jack. Owen swivelled slightly in his chair and blew on his coffee as Jack started to wind through the list of things that would need doing in the morning.

Ianto sat quietly, nodding and making a mental list of what Jack was saying so he could tell him again in the morning. He was vaguely aware of Jack's voice getting ever so slightly louder and the constant thudding of Owen's foot against the floor.

With a sigh, he rubbed his forehead with his free hand and continued to drink his coffee. He really just needed to go home and sleep. The dripping of the water down the tower was adding to the quiet cacophony playing in his head and he was finding it hard to shake it free, his headache building again. When Owen spoke to him, it was much louder than Ianto thought was really necessary.

"Right, I'm off. I've had enough weird shit for one day. See you both tomorrow." Owen shoved his mug back onto his desk and shrugged his jacket on. He glanced at Ianto briefly before sighing and walking passed them. "Jack, make sure Ianto gets some sleep – he looks knackered."

Jack glanced over at Ianto, who looked up at him with a wry smile, before laughing and nodding to Owen, shooing him off home. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ianto flinch and clutch his head as the siren went off.

"Ianto?" Jack shifted closer to him, resting a hand on the younger man's back and stroking slow circles. He spoke softly and Ianto raised his head with a sheepish smile. Jack pulled him close, cradling the younger man to him gently. "Do you want to just stay here tonight?"

Ianto nodded slightly, taking a deep breath and leaning heavily into his lover's arms. Jack brushed a kiss against his forehead and pulled him to his feet, guiding him through to his office and telling him to head downstairs. Ianto nodded and kisses him gently before Jack turned away to cleaned up the mugs and turning off the non-essential computers and electricity.

Within ten minutes, he was down in the bunker, stripping down to his t-shirt and boxers and sliding into bed behind Ianto. The younger man turned around and cuddled against him with a weary sigh and Jack wrapped his arms around him.

"Your heart's beating really loud…" Ianto murmured, his nose pressed to Jack's chest. His hands were running absently down Jack's sides, resting on his hips, his thumbs moving in slow circles across the smooth skin there. Jack could feel himself hardening at his lover's touch, it was automatic, but he knew Ianto needed rest more than either of them needed an orgasm. Simply sleeping in each other's arms would be enough for the moment.

"You need to get some sleep." Jack pressed a kiss against Ianto's hair and felt him sigh sleepily in his arms again. His hand moved to wrap loosely around Jack's waist and his muscles slowly started to relax.

Jack just held him and watched him as he slipped into sleep, completely vulnerable in his arms. Jack loved it like that. In the middle of the night, it was so easy to think it was just the two of them. He would happily have spent the rest of his infinite existence with Ianto asleep and peaceful in his arms.

With a sigh, he closed his eyes and let himself begin to drift a little.

*

Ianto could hear a loud, rhythmic thumping somewhere in the distance. It gradually came into focus, along with a slow, rushing sound, as his mind started to shake of the hold of his sleep. He wriggled as he felt something pressing into his side and finally he woke up, the final cobwebs of sleep tearing free of his mind.

He cracked his eyes open and hissed in pain as sudden, bright lights rushed into view. Carefully, he turned his attention back to the warmth around his waist and the discomfort beneath him. Another wriggle revealed that there was a particularly large fold in the material of his t-shirt, digging into the side of his chest.

Next he turned his attention to the sounds that had woken him. They sounded familiar, but they were amplified and much more detailed. _Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump_, and the gentle, liquid whoosh that followed each thump like wind through trees. There was the slow rush of air, collecting, circling, expanding, until it reversed and started all over again.

It was so loud – like music through headphones that cancelled outside noise. He tried opening his eyes again, squinting through his lashes to lessen the discomfort at the bright lights. Jack was in front of him, arm around his waist and holding him gently. He was still asleep and the only thing Ianto could think was that the noises he was hearing were Jack's heartbeat and breathing – the same noises that had soothed him to sleep so many times.

With a groan of protest, he pulled himself free of Jack's arms and clambered over him and onto the floor… the floor that was especially hard and solid today. The concrete felt like it was suddenly ten times more substantial than before. It was like, until then, he'd been standing on marshmallow. The concrete was like sandpaper over a layer of something cold and more solid than rock.

Ianto shook away the odd sensation, determined to go find himself some pain killers. His headache must've just got to the point where his senses were in overdrive. Painkillers, sleep, Jack, sleep. That was all he planned to do for his immediate future.

He stumbled his way up the ladder into Jack's office and was struck by the mechanical noises that suddenly wriggled their way through his ears. There was the clinking and rattling from the early morning traffic rushing around on the surface, the dripping of water onto metal and the pulsing thrumming of the computer systems and Rift manipulator that were constantly working.

He heard a rustling above as well, but the sound felt like it had only come from metres away. Surely he hadn't been able to hear Myfanwy? He shaded his eyes as the lights continued to burn vibrant images into his eyes and stumbled his way, half blind, out of Jack's office.

He was about to head into the autopsy bay when the thumping and rushing sounds from the bunker – noises that he hadn't realised he was still listening to – changed ever so slightly. He instantly knew that Jack was awake it was only a matter of moments before he got up and--

Ianto didn't get to finish the thought as his nose filled with one of the most glorious scents he'd ever smelled. He couldn't even begin to describe it but he knew that he wanted nothing more than to wrap himself in it forever. It was only a faint aroma though it could easily have been a fluke, a scent from somewhere in the Hub caught up in the shift of air as he walked.

The thumping and the rushing got louder again, accompanied by soft, leathery noises as Jack approached him, his feet padding across the floor in what he must've thought was a sneaky manner.

-- and there it was again, that smell, making his mouth water and his cock harden. He closed his eyes and tried to breath deeply, but strong, warm arms wrapped around him – both soft and hard at the same time, leathery skin and rough fingers running across his forearms.

He spun round and kissed Jack hard, unable to stop himself. His pheromones were intoxicating – so much stronger than they'd ever been before – and he simply couldn't help it. He kissed him hungrily and Jack gripped him, chuckling with a sound like a rock slide as they devoured each other, hard and needy and completely without restraint.

Ianto ran his hands across Jack's chest, tugging him by the waistband of his boxers to the sofa and pushing him down. Jack raised an eyebrow as Ianto grinned at him, kissing him again as he pulled their underwear down just a little. Ianto lay flush against his lover, the warm, hard body beneath him reacting to his touch in a way that set his blood on fire.

He pulled himself free of his boxers and wrapped a hand around them both, gasping sharply at the shockwave that rocketed through him as Jack's cock rubbed against his own. He used the mix of their pre-come to lend a smoothness to the motions of his hand as he pumped and twisted his fist lazily. Jack was moaning into his mouth, gripping his hips hard. Each rasp of breath that Ianto heard was like a rush of wind past his ears, the constant thud of his heart ricocheting at almost three times the speed, the thumping pounding through his ears like a rock concert.

He was so close, each stroke infinitely more explosive than it had ever been before. It was almost painful. The thought struck him too late and less than a moment later, his orgasm was shrieking through him, setting his nerves on fire and making him come hard, breathing Jack's name. That was all his lover needed to joined him, his fingers digging in as he moaned Ianto's name loudly.

It was like a scream to Ianto. His whole body hurt, his skin on fire from the roughness of Jack's grip, the tightness around his arms like industrial vices. He was uncomfortable all over, noises suddenly bombarding his mind. He screwed his eyes closed even further, the light once again threatening to blind him. He could still taste the too strong, metallic bitterness of adrenaline and the vestiges of orgasm in his system made his already overly sensitised skin too much to bear.

The pain was nearly unbearable. He slumped to one side, clutching his hair tightly, eyes squeezed closed as he tried to force it all to stop… but it wouldn't - it was just getting worse. The pain set in, his heart racing as he wondered what the fuck was happening to him.

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**TBC** on thursday 4th of feb


	2. Chapter 2

thankyou for all the comments!

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CHAPTER 2

He could feel Jack's hand on his shoulder, a heavy weight that pinned him to the almost painfully rough sofa. He felt strong, warm arms around him again and he clutched tightly to his lover, terrified. He could here the constant, steady _thump-thump_ of Jack's heart again and the rushing of air in and out of his lungs. He tried to focus on those sounds and only them, trying to block everything else out.

"Ianto, talk to me, what's wrong?" Jack's voice was low and quiet – a blessing. Ianto shuddered in his arms.

"It's too loud and everything hurts… it's wrong, Jack, something's gone wrong." Ianto's voice shook as he spoke at what he thought was normal volume. Jack only just managed to hear the whispers, but immediately moved one of his hands to press over Ianto's ear, pulling his head firmly against his chest to block out all the sounds around them. Ianto could concentrate solely on his lover's heartbeat and breathing again.

Ianto sighed in relief, letting Jack shift him from the sofa and into his lap, his skin and the cloth of his t-shirt more comfortable to be against than the scratchy weave of the furniture. Jack's mind raced, trying to find explanations for his lover's obvious suffering. He'd said things were too loud, that everything hurt… but, what did that mean?

It was then that Jack noticed the scratch on Ianto's neck. Through the clear film over it, he could see the skin was still a little red and inflamed. Surely, after a night's sleep it should've been getting better. He frowned and eased his hand gently off Ianto's ear.

"Ianto, does your neck hurt?" He kept his voice soft and felt Ianto shake his head. "Is there anything else that's not right apart from the feel of things and sound?"

He nodded his head, his voice a whisper as he spoke, "My eyes… the light hurts… and you smelt too good."

Jack smiled gently at the last part and closed his hand back over Ianto's ear, holding him firmly. His senses seemed to be in overdrive… Only taste hadn't been tested, but Jack was willing to bet a large amount of money that the sense would've been affected as well – and he wasn't a gambling kind of guy.

He knew that the first port of call was to make Ianto as comfortable as possible. Reluctantly, he lifted Ianto back onto the sofa and stood up, ignoring the come drying onto his clothes as he tugged them back into place. He moved to Tosh's desk and rummaged through until he found the spare earpiece and the new ear defenders she'd been working on. They were more discreet than the industrial earmuffs Jack used down in the firing range.

He slotted the earpiece into one of the ear defenders – Tosh had thought ahead far enough to design a panel that could be removed to contain the comm. device. He dialled the volume on the earpiece right down to its minimum and moved back to Ianto, slotting them over his ears, taking exceptional care so that he didn't damage or hurt the younger man's ears. He looked so vulnerable as he sat there, curled up awkwardly, hands pressed over his ears and his eyes screwed closed.

As soon as the defenders fell into place, the edges seemed to mould round Ianto's head, sealing out all other sound. Ianto instantly felt at ease. The only thing he could hear now was the faint throbbing of his own heart. The sounds from outside were still audible, but no where near as loud. He ran his fingers experimentally over the defenders, feeling the smooth curve of the surfaces. He thought, had he not been feeling like he was about to be ripped apart, cell by cell, that he probably looked either comical or terrifying. He suppressed the though of cybermen and the ear devices that had taken control of two of his friends on the Rift floor.

"Are the ears okay?" Jack's voice was quiet, sounding a little tinny through the comm. device. He wondered whether the degradation of sound had always been that bad. Ianto had the feeling that he would've been able to hear Jack perfectly fine without the device in his ear, but he knew Jack was covering all bases, should he have to rush off at a moment's notice.

"Yeah, they feel better." He pressed his hands over his eyes gently, blocking the light from them as he blinked them hard a few times. His forehead was aching a little from crushing his eyelids together. "My clothes are itchy, Jack."

"Okay… do you have any pyjamas downstairs?" Ianto could hear the whisperings of Jack's heartbeat near him and he nodded his head carefully. He felt Jack fingers run across his arm, surprised at how light the touch was after everything else he'd felt that morning. The sofa was like sandpaper, hard and unyielding and it made his bones ache and his skin sore. "Hang in there, I'm going to go change the sheets and get you changed and settled down there."

Ianto nodded again and heard the heartbeat and footsteps head away from him. Even through the ear defenders, he could hear Jack's movements in the bunker, though they were quiet and unobtrusive. He found it strangely comforting to be able to hear what was happening as he was unable to open his eyes and look for himself.

He heard Jack opening a drawer and the soft whisper of material gliding over itself as he pulled out new bed sheets. He heard a gentle melody drifting through his ears – softer and more soulful than he'd ever heard it before, and he'd heard Jack humming more often than the older man knew. He listened as the covers were changed and the bed was sorted, a few things moved from the bedside table to the desk in the corner, wires wrapped around appliances and stacked to one side. The final noise he heard was of what he could only assume was Jack getting changed and cleaning himself off - trousers and a t-shirt if he was listening correctly.

Then he heard footsteps on the ladder again and the tension that he hadn't realised had crept into his shoulders faded a little. The footsteps were back and he could once more hear the gentle, comforting thud of Jack's heart. He felt hands on his shoulders, guiding him to his feet and Ianto let himself be taken away.

They moved slowly back into Jack's office and to the manhole cover. Jack whispered for him to stay still and left him standing there for a moment as he closed the door and shut the blinds, trying to keep at much light out as possible.

Ianto eased his palms from his eyes and blinked them open tentatively. The lights were stronger than he'd expected, as if the room was lit normally, and he could see every crease and notch in his surroundings. Jack stood near him, watching him carefully and Ianto looked at him – really looked at him – for what felt like the first time.

His face suddenly bore so much more of his age than previously and his eyes seemed to swim, bluer than ever. There were wrinkles round his eyes and each hair on his head stood out sharply, the bed head he was sporting only being accentuated. He was worrying at his lip, a frown creasing his forehead in concern and Ianto managed to smile a little, leaning in to kiss him as hard as he dared – which wasn't hard at all.

He felt his skin spark at the feel of Jack's lips and pulled back, knowing it wasn't safe to carry on. He nodded slowly and the tension in Jack's face eased slightly as he guided him down to the bunker. He gently helped Ianto out of his t-shirt and boxers, tossing them into the corner and holding out the soft, flannel trousers and t-shirt that Ianto had always found so comfortable in the past.

Gratefully, the younger man pulled them on, letting Jack clean his skin gently with a warm flannel before he settled the material into place. Then Jack nudged him towards the bed and settled him in between the soft, silk sheets. He'd had them for a while in the seventies, when he'd thought they were the height of fashion. He didn't let people know that really, he only had them because the were immensely soft on the skin – and there was nothing better than a comfortable bed after a horrific day in Torchwood.

Jack couldn't help the smile that tugged at his mouth as Ianto twisted to face him and he heard him sigh gently. He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to his temple.

"Thank you, Jack… this is so much better." Ianto's voice was soft and relaxed, his eyes closed and his face relieved of it's tension. Jack just wanted to wrap him in his arms and take away all the pain and discomfort.

"Just get some rest. I'll close the manhole cover and keep the lights down in the office, just in case. I'll call Owen in and see if he can't work out what's happened. We'll make you better, I promise." Ianto nodded and blinked his eyes open to look at Jack, a slight anxiety in them again.

"Do I need to keep these on?" He gestured to his ears and Jack suddenly remembered some of the bodies from Canary Wharf. He thought for a moment before shaking his head and pressing the buttons to release the seals on each ear. He carefully slid them from his lover's ears and watched the final ounce of tension leave him. He put the comm. device onto 'speakerphone' and left it on the bedside table.

He was just about to stand up to leave and seal Ianto down in the bunker when he felt a hand on his chest, Ianto's palm sliding under his t-shirt to rest over his heart. He stayed still, unable to stop the slight quickening of his pulse. He saw Ianto grin and laugh gently before he pulled his hand away and curled further down into the soft bed clothes.

Jack felt a throb of affection for the young man and forced himself to climb up the ladder and close the hatch as quietly as possible. Ianto heard the metal being put into place and tried not to wince at the grating sound as Jack shifted it a little more precisely. He sighed again as he heard Jack walk across the room and sit down in his seat, the old chair creaking in several different pitches. Ianto had only ever heard the softest whisper of protest from the chair and it seemed odd to hear it so loud and clearly.

He buried his head further into the soft pillow and listened to Jack murmuring over the phone to Owen, even hearing some of Owen's replies. He didn't sound happy at all – neither of them did. They were brusk and hurried and when Jack finished the call and closed his phone, Ianto hugged the duvet closer to him.

*

Jack tried sitting in his office for a while, but the urge to tap his fingers or pen on the desk were almost overwhelming. He knew he couldn't disturb Ianto again, but the frustration was making him distracted. His only option was to get up and leave the office, to go for a walk and maybe check on the weevils or Myfanwy.

His first port of call, however, was to get a cup of tea. He was immensely surprised to find, as he turned around a few minutes later with his mug in his hand, Owen walking through the door, the siren blaring and making him wince at the thought of what Ianto must've heard.

He quickly moved to Tosh's workstations, ignoring Owen's called questions, and turned the siren to mute for the time being. There would be at least one more activation when the two women came into work and he doubted that he and Owen would be able to work out what was wrong by then.

"Harkness!" He whipped round as Owen snapped his name out, glaring at him. Jack returned the look with equal measure before sighing.

"Look, I don't know what happened… He was fine last night, just tired." Jack sighed and rubbed his eyes hard. Owen dumped his bag and shrugged off his jacket, turning on his computer.

"Did he say anything that might have indicated a change?" Owen glanced over his shoulder, following Jack's lead and speaking softer than usual.

"He said my heart was beating really loudly last night… but we were just lying together, nothing more than that." He fidgeted a little and Owen just knew that there was more to the story. He swallowed the sarcastic retort as he logged into the Torchwood systems and gestured for Jack to carry on. "This morning… we, you know… but as soon as it was over he freaked out, curled up saying everything was too loud, that I smelt different and the lights were too bright."

"Sight, hearing and smell…" Owen mused, resisting the urge to roll his eyes and Jack's insatiable sex drive.

"I think his skin was hypersensitive too… he said his skin was hurting. I'd wager that his taste was off too, but he's not eaten or drunk anything this morning." Jack shrugged and moved over to Owen's computer as he began to pull up the case file for the alien from the day before. Owen raised an eyebrow at him but bit back the question about how they'd managed to have sex without using their mouths. He really didn't need to know that.

"The only thing I can think of is that something was passed on through the scratch… maybe into the bloodstream? It would explain why the effects suddenly hit him after you shagged each other. Elevated heart rate and breathing, blood pumping faster… It may be that it was all that was needed to send whatever it was completely through him." Owen concentrated on the computer screen, looking at the meagre data he had. He hadn't yet completed the autopsy of the body as it had been late when they'd finished the job. They'd brought the body up to the lab and tucked it into temporary storage before he'd inspected the scratch on Ianto's neck. "How's the cut this morning? It should be scabbed over by now."

"It looked red… almost like the beginnings of an infection, but I didn't want to do anything to it before you came in." Jack glanced at Owen, who nodded his approval.

"Good move." Owen brought up Ianto's medical file and scanned over it. he knew all the histories of everyone on the team, but the last time he'd checked was a few months ago. He wanted to see whether anything had happened between then and now. He knew that they were all reluctant to use Owen as their primary care physician – the girls especially – but he'd long ago got Tosh to write him a programme that automatically linked the NHS files for employees to the Torchwood data. "Okay, I'm going to need to do a full body scan and lab work up. I'll need a couple of vials of blood to analyse and compare for any toxins… But I need to do the autopsy first."

Jack nodded, grimacing at the thought of how badly the pain of a blood draw would be intensified for his lover. Owen was a good Doctor – better than good – and had, for his own sake as much as his patients, perfected his needle technique. Whilst he was efficient and almost painless when placing IV s and drawing blood, there would still be pain and discomfort, even if only minimal – and that could be horrific for Ianto.

Still, there was nothing else that could be done and if it was the only way to heal Ianto, Jack would let Owen do it.


	3. Chapter 3

thankyou for all the comments!

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CHAPTER 3

Their first move was to pull the body from the temporary storage in the autopsy bay and lay it out on the table. Owen prepared the instruments he would need and Jack quickly sent off two texts, one to Gwen and one to Tosh, to tell them that they would need to be quiet on entry to the Hub and that they should head round to autopsy once they were in.

"Okay, humanoid, approximately six foot two. Do you know what species it is?" Owen glanced up at Jack, who pocketed his phone and turned around, shaking his head.

"I don't recognise it, but we can't rule out the possibility of it being a shape-shifter until we've had a look inside." Jack shrugged and Owen carried on writing out the physical details. He examined the eyes and mouth, taking swabs of the teeth and finger nails and setting them to one side.

He picked up a scalpel and paused for a moment. The creature looked like your typical wrestler – bald, lots of muscle and tattoos. Before he started cutting him open, Owen snapped photos of the unusual and highly distinctive black lines patterning the alien's upper arms, neck and head. He had very lightly tanned skin, tinged blue around the nails, mouth and eyes - even before the bullet had ripped his heart clean from its major blood vessels. His eyes were more elongated than a typical human's, the iris' a deep, haunting violet.

Owen put the scalpel to the skin with a carefully restrained anticipation. Any new species always fascinated him, no matter how violent they'd been before their death. He sliced the chest open and used a bone saw to open the rib cage. As suspected, the heart was lying uselessly in a pool of half congealed blood. It smelt truly awful.

"Hang on, Owen, what's wrong with the lungs?" Jack was pulling his t-shirt collar up over his nose with one hand as he leaned forwards, pointing to the open chest cavity.

"It looks like there're four of them…" Owen said in astonishment. A little more careful slicing and a couple of scans of the head and Owen deduced that one pair was dedicated to the nose and the other, larger pair were attached to the mouth. He took samples from each pair of lungs and ran them through a quick scan. "The ones attached to the nose seem to be designed for scent… there're receptors throughout the lining – probably to help with tracking their prey. The second, larger pair are the same as ours, designed for breathing only. They're completely independent of each other."

"Whoa… That's what I call evolution. If their ability for smell is so accentuated, what would you say to the idea that the other senses are heightened as well?" Jack mused, meeting Owen's eyes as the medic nodded in contemplation.

"Yeah… yeah, that's a good thought." Owen looked at the body for a moment before handing Jack a scalpel. "Get me samples of the tongue and inside of the cheeks. I'll do another scan of the head and then one of the nervous system."

They worked quietly and efficiently, moving around and through each other in perfect sync. It was only fifteen minutes later when they had confirmation that the ear ducts were almost three times larger than a typical human's and there were ten times as many taste buds situated in the mouth and on the tongue. The nervous system showed that the skin, whilst being extremely thick and leathery, had an enormous amount of nerve endings. Had a fly landed on the creature, it would've known.

"It's all making sense now." Jack leaned back against the wall, arms folded as he chewed on the inside of his lip gently. "No wonder it took us so long to track him – he's the ultimate hunter. It makes us look pathetic in comparison."

"That as may be, but we still need to work out how he infected Ianto and what with." Owen gestured at him with a scalpel and Jack suddenly snapped from the pensive mood that had claimed him, nodding.

He was just about to reply when he heard the cog door rolling back and hurried, quiet footsteps as the two women headed into the Hub and round to where they were.

"What's going on?" Gwen's voice was loud, bouncing gently off the walls and making Owen and Jack wince and realise just how quietly they'd been working and speaking over the past half hour. Owen just gestured them down stairs.

"Something's happened to Ianto. All his senses have gone into overdrive – I dare say he can hear us speaking now and he's in Jack's bunker." Owen glanced at Jack, who was standing alone and staring at the alien again. Tosh moved quietly round to him and squeezed his shoulder gently. He glanced over with a smile. "He got a scratch off this bugger yesterday and at the moment, I reckon some form of venom or toxin has passed into his bloodstream."

"He may not be the only person who's been harmed, so, Gwen, I'll need you to keep an eye on police reports and hospital admissions. If there's someone out there suffering from the same thing, we need to get to them and help them as soon as we've worked out how to." Jack spoke to the corpse but Gwen nodded, waiting for him to carry on. "Voices are going to need to be kept quiet – no yelling in the Hub today. We'll need to try and keep Myfanwy calm and we need to suppress all those clumsy urges to drop things or play basket ball when there's no work."

"I know you've already muted the siren, but I can mute the alarms in general and redirect an audio warning to your wrist strap. The computers will still flash and get our attention, but I can get a quiet bleep to alert you as well." Tosh spoke up and Jack nodded, grinning.

"Sounds like a good plan, Tosh. Thanks. I borrowed you new ear defenders as well – they were easier to get to quickly than run down to the firing range for the industrial ones." Jack looked a little chagrined but Tosh waved her acceptance with a roll of the eyes.

"It's fine, it's fine. Besides, they needed to be used sometime otherwise what's the point in having them?" Tosh smiled and Jack managed to return it. "Right I'll get on with that stuff then."

She nodded and Jack caught her hand briefly, squeezing it in thanks.

"I'll set up the scanning and alerts for case files then run out and get everyone something to eat – maybe some coffee as well." Gwen nodded and left the two men to it. She wanted to help but she knew there was nothing she'd be able to do. For now, she could only try to keep morale up a little and help the two men work out a way to help Ianto.

Back in the autopsy bay, Jack grimaced and Owen sighed. They both knew what they had to do now. It was going to be painful and stressful for the both of them, but it needed to be done. Carefully, Owen gathered up a blood draw kit and some spare vials and let Jack lead him up to the office and then into the bunker.

*

Ianto had, somehow, managed to drift into a doze, missing the conversation he would have been able to hear through the walls. He was woken by the sound of voices and footsteps directly above him and only just managed to cover his eyes and ears in time for Jack and Owen moving the cover form the entrance and climbing down into the bunker.

The two hearts were beating out of time, one faster than the other, nervous and worried. It moved closer and he felt familiar hands gently nudging him awake. He turned away from them and curled up, wanting them to go away. He knew what they were there for.

"Come on, mate, lets just get this over and done with." Owen spoke as softly as possible, but Ianto heard it as if he were speaking perfectly normally. Owen sounded weird, different inflections in the sound of his voice and a clarity and sharpness that was uncharacteristic to the sarcastic, cynical Doctor.

"Jack, please, I don't want to…" Ianto murmured, feeling the hands on his back gently manipulate him until he was sitting in his lover's arms, his head angled into Jack's shoulder with one of his hands securely across his eyes and the other holding his right arm straight. The grip was tight and uncomfortable and he tried to wriggle free, but the friction burned his skin. He shuddered against Jack's shoulder, feeling trapped and helpless.

Jack's heart was pounding faster, the constant rush of his breathing hitching at each of Ianto's gentle sounds of protest. He felt a tug of guilt at upsetting Jack, but his grip was uncomfortable and far too tight. He didn't want to associate it with Jack. His lover had never had to use force in such an unrelenting way with him before and he hated it – they both did.

He felt something cold and wet against the inside of his right elbow as he realised that Owen was silently wiping his skin clean. He heard the click of was sounded like a lamp and understood why Jack was covering his eyes so securely.

"I'm going to give you a local anaesthetic to your arm… it's going to hurt and I'm sorry, but this is the only way." Owen's voice was low and regretful and Ianto could hear the true disgust he was feeling at having to inflict this kind of pain on a colleague. Ianto cringed further against his lover, biting back a cry as Jack's hand tugged at his skin slightly. He tried to keep himself still, but the fear of the impending pain was paralysing and his instincts were taking over in full force.

The needle was a scratch against his skin made him flinch violently, jerking his arm against Jack's grip and crying out as fire shot up from his wrist.

"Jack, stop it, let me go, please!" He couldn't stop himself from sobbing – the fear and the helplessness making him feel like he was cornered. He felt Jack shake his head and his breath shudder in his chest and his grip remained firm on his lover's wrist.

Owen's expression darkened at the sight of the younger man, completely terrified. It reminded him of a particularly traumatising night when he'd was on call at the hospital, a junior doctor with the whole of accident and emergency understaffed and overworked. He'd been calling up to paediatrics every twenty minutes but no one had come down and there was a seven year old girl who'd needed a lumbar puncture. After four hours of waiting, he'd been forced to perform it himself, the little girl's father holding her tightly, his grip unrelenting as she cried to him to let her go, that it was hurting her.

The expression on the man's face was the exact twin to the one Jack now wore; the gritted jaw, the bloodshot, tearing eyes and the complete disgust at the thought of betraying someone he cared for and loved beyond anything else.

Owen took a deep breath and steadied his hand again, gripping gently to Ianto's upper arm to add some more restraint as he quickly injected the anaesthetic into three spots along the inside of his elbow. The younger man cried out again, his muscles tensing and spasming beneath his grip as he fought between the burning of the needle and the friction hurting his skin. Owen didn't glance up to know that tears were spilling from his Captain's eyes or that the muscles in his jaw were knotting in determination.

"Okay, I'm going to need to put the tourniquet on now, so Ianto, I need you to make a fist." Owen spoke gently once more, releasing his hold on Ianto's upper arm, replacing it with a blood pressure cuff. He waited until Ianto had curled his fingers together, Jack adjusting his grip but not giving Ianto any room to move away. Owen pumped up the cuff and felt Ianto shaking before it was even half done.

"Owen, it hurts. It feel like my arm's going to explode…" Ianto's voice shook and he swallowed convulsively. Owen just shook his head and shared a look with Jack.

"I know, but there's nothing else I can do. It'll be over soon, I promise." Owen waited for his reaction before carrying on, taking the hesitant nod as a confirmation. He carried on filling the cuff until the veins on Ianto's arm began to stand out enough. He tried to ignore the whimper of pain that escaped Ianto's lips, but he still felt another wave of distaste at having to perform the procedure. "Alright… I'm not going to lie, this is going to hurt – but I'll be as fast as possible. You can put me on decaf for a week if it takes more than sixty seconds from when I get the needle in."

Ianto nodded again nervously, his whole body tensing and curling against Jack completely. He just focused on Jack's heart beat, on his breathing and his smell. He tried to lose himself completely in the other man, but he heard the hitch in his breath again, followed by a searing pain in his arm that made him cry out again.

His arm instinctively flinched away from the needle which only served to hurt him more. He could hear Owen muttering to himself, counting the seconds away as he filled the first vial with blood, then the second, the third, the fourth and, finally, the fifth – just to be safe. By the time he'd pulled the final vial free and slid the needle out of Ianto's arm, he'd reach fifty five seconds.

"Sorry, mate. Looks like I won." Owen pressed some cotton wool to his arm and indicated Jack should hold it in place to stop any bruising. Ianto managed to laugh a little shakily at his words and let out a shuddering breath. Jack didn't want to comment on the tears on his palm covering Ianto's eyes. "Okay, the next stuff won't hurt at all, I promise."

"Yeah, right." Ianto muttered, clinging gently to the front of Jack's t-shirt as he listened to Owen getting one of his scanners out and running it across him. He heard the clicks and beeps loudly, focusing on his head, the scratch on his neck, his heart and his stomach, assessing his internal organs. On the next pass, he focused the scanner on his ears, arms and legs.

"Mouth open." Owen waited for Ianto to nervously open his mouth a little and took gentle swabs of the inside of his cheeks and tongue, passing the scanner over it as well for good measure. "I need to check your eyes, Ianto. The scanner might be a bit bright but, again, I'll try and do it as quickly as possible.

Ianto nodded again and he heard the click of the lamp being turned off before Jack slowly peeled his hand away from his face. Ianto gripped the material under his fingers a little tighter, Jack's hand still securely around his shoulders. He blinked his eyes a little and managed to focus on the small room around him.

Owen was right – the scanner was the only source of light for the other two, bright and beacon-like in the darkness… but for Ianto, there was also the background light, the residual rays that made their way down through the entrance. The room was lit in a soft, orange glow – like twilight, or dawn. He felt his eyes focus and adjust to the light levels, everything starting to stand out just a little more the longer he looked.

He glanced up at Jack again, his heart tightening at the sight of the tears on the older man's cheeks. His jaw was set, his face resolute and dispassionate, but Ianto could see the sadness in his eyes. On the other side of him, Owen was waiting patiently, watching him with a similar distaste at his actions. On the bed, next to Owen, were the five vials of his blood and Owen's kit bag.

He looked back at the scanner and nodded nervously, letting Owen bring it up to take readings form his eyes and analyse them. He couldn't help the slight cringe away form the light, but forced himself to endure the discomfort of keeping his eyes open and staring at the bright lights of the device. He didn't notice the flicker of concern across Owen's face.

"Right, done. Jack, I'll head up and start plugging in the data and running the blood tests." Owen packed everything up quickly and left the two lovers together, knowing they needed some time to adjust and reconcile over Jack's need to restrain Ianto throughout the procedure.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello there! I just wanted to apologise for the outrageously long time I've been missing from the scene... I've gone from horrific writer's block to an A2 art exam to my computer dying and a mad scramble to get all my files transferredto my new laptop! So here I am, updating...

Thank-you again to all you dedicated people out there and thank-you for baring with me!

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CHAPTER 4

As soon as Owen was out of the bunker and his footsteps were receding, Jack found himself unable to hold back the spasms of silent sobbing. Ianto stroked his cheek gently and held him as his breathing evened out and he gained control of himself again.

"I'm so sorry, Ianto, I really am." Jack's voice was gentle and more than a little choked. Ianto just pressed a kiss to his lips and held his face, dismissing the apology.

"You had to do it… I just got scared but I'm fine. I promise." Ianto kissed the corner of his mouth again and Jack turned into the touch as Ianto's thumbs wiped the lingering tears from his cheeks.

"You have to believe how much I hated doing that. I'll never physically restrain you like that again, not unless it's the only way." Jack stared at him, his eyes and his voice completely earnest. The clarity of his vision and the different timbre to Jack's voice were a little unnerving, but there was the underlying truth that he was still the man he'd been the day before and that whatever had happened was just inside Ianto.

"I know, I just… I know. I trust you, Jack. I just want to be better." Ianto sighed and slumped against his lover's chest, closing his eyes again drinking in the sound and feel of Jack's heartbeat. He lost count of how many times the organ _thump-thump_ed the blood round his lover's body, but all too soon, he could hear Owen pacing upstairs, obviously needing Jack's attention. "Go on, get back to work…"

"Ianto…" Jack's voice was as reluctant as his own had been, neither wanting to lose contact with the other. Jack wanted to comfort Ianto and help deal with what was happening and Ianto needed Jack as an anchor, the whole world around him suddenly shifted and distorted with his lover as the only constant he could grasp onto. Ianto felt Jack's lips firmly against his own, sad and bittersweet as they pulled away from each other and Jack stood up.

He took a moment to tuck Ianto back under the covers and put a plaster across the puncture mark on his right arm before lingering a moment longer and hurrying back up to his office. Carefully, he lifted the cover back in place before turning to Owen.

"Is there anything you can see straight away?" Jack looked over at Owen, who was standing grimly in the middle of the room, arms folded. Jack felt his heart in his throat and gestured Owen to show him what he'd found.

They moved round and down into the autopsy bay, Owen bringing up the data he'd collected with his scanner.

"The ears, skin, mouth and lungs are all exactly as expected, which is more than encouraging. The things that worried me were the eyes." Owen projected the chemical analysis graphs onto the wall above the computer and on the screen itself brought up a freeze frame of the video the scanner automatically took.

"Fuck…" Jack stared disbelievingly at the video, completely unwilling to acknowledge it. Ianto's eyes – the beautiful, sarcastic, intelligent eyes that he saw right into the depths of – were different. They were wrong. The blue-grey iris' were discoloured, a ring of violet surrounding the outside. The colour was thin, but nevertheless present. "Is there anything you can do?"

"I need to analyse the blood properly, but I'm hoping that what's happened is like the Kayser-Fleischer Ring." Owen sensed Jack's look that clearly said 'what the hell are you talking about?' and carried on, gesticulating slightly as he tried to explain what he meant. "One of the signs of Wilson's disease – an inability for the liver to handle and process copper properly – is a ring of copper deposit around the iris. It's a discoloured ring around the eyes like Ianto has here… only this compound, obviously, is bloody purple, not copper."

"Is it treatable?" Jack was slightly disturbed by the change in his lover's eyes. It felt selfish to ask, but he desperately wanted them to go back to normal.

"Yeah, if it's that and not a physiological change, it should be. I just need to analyse his blood and work out what the hell got into his system to do this – but no promises" Owen shrugged and glanced up at the readings on the wall. Jack nodded and sighed, leaving him to it.

*

The following few hours had been tense and stressful with Owen working feverishly on Ianto's scans and blood samples. He was obviously determined to work out what had happened and everyone knew that once the medic found a project, he bit into it and refused to let go until he'd beaten it into submission.

Gwen hadn't received any alerts of other people who might have been affected in the same way, but on reflection, Jack realised that the creature was a hunter and a particularly efficient one at that. He'd not left anyone alive to identify him. The only reason they'd found him when they did was that the girl he was attacking was in the middle of a 999 call saying she thought she was being stalked. They'd all heard the blood curdling scream as she'd been attacked and the frantic calls from the helpless desk clerk at the Police call board.

Tosh had long since moved on to running through the cover up for the cases and the deaths and Jack had been left to wander the archive and the firing range. He'd thought about maybe going down for some practice when he realised that the gun shots might be audible to his young lover. It was paranoia really, but even the faintest chance of causing him any more discomfort made his stomach turn.

He'd also toyed with the idea of going back down to the bunker, but he knew that if something came up and he had to jump up and rush off, the disturbance to Ianto would be unnecessary and uncomfortable. It was with a heavy sigh of resignation that he fed and cleaned out the weevils and Myfanwy. It was practical and necessary labour and it forced him to think about something other than Ianto.

By the time he'd finished and grabbed a shower and a clean set of clothes from his locker in the team changing rooms, Owen was herding them all up and directing them to the autopsy bay.

Jack snapped his braces over his shoulders and moved across the hub quietly. The other three had taken their shoes off almost as soon as the order to keep the noise down had been issued, but Jack had needed to wear his boots for the weevil cleaning. Now though, he was in a thick pair of socks, padding almost silently through the base to the autopsy bay, his heart in his throat once more.

"How do you know it's not a type of poison?" Tosh asked with a slight furrow to her forehead. Jack glanced at her – they'd obviously started whilst he was heading over.

"If it was a poison, there would be some form of damage or altered body function, but the scans show that everything is working normally, apart from his sensory receptors. He hasn't got worse over time and there hasn't necessarily been a negative impact on him." Owen rolled his eyes and the scathing look Tosh sent him. "A negative impact on his health I mean. All his organs are working and there's no sign of brain damage at all."

"Okay, so what is it?" Jack asked, Owen glancing over at him.

"Well, from what I can see of the alien's anatomy, the substance that causes the violet colour of the eyes is present in the blood stream." Owen tapped a few keys and the projection changed to show the chemical analysis for Tosh to follow along with. "I don't know whether the compound is created naturally or through something it ingests, but it seems to be excreted by glands under the fingernails."

"So when Ianto got scratched, the substance was transferred into his blood stream?" Jack rubbed his chin thoughtfully, watching Owen nod and pull up a couple more graphs and chemical representations.

"Could it have been a deliberate thing?" Gwen asked. They all looked over at her and she shrugged. "It seems to me this thing is supposed to be pretty efficient at what it does, so could putting this compound into its prey be a way of disabling or marking it?"

"It makes sense." Tosh spoke this time, the two men nodding their agreement.

"The compound gets into the system of the prey, amplifies all its senses and drives it to distraction." Jack mused out loud and Owen followed up.

"The heart rate would be sky high and it'd get through the body quickly, affecting them almost instantly. They wouldn't be able to run away what with their sight effectively blinding them and sounds bombarding them." Owen nodded, turning back to look at the levels of the compound in Ianto's blood. "Ianto only had a small dose and he wasn't particularly scared when he was grabbed. Maybe it's designed to be most potent with a deeper wound and on weaker prey."

"The sounds more than likely… but still, how do we reverse this?" Jack asked, Owen glancing back at him.

"The compound is something organic, but it doesn't seem to be reacting chemically with Ianto's cells. I'm pretty confident that it could be dissolved – it's similar to human enzymes – and broken down into chunks small enough to be ineffective and washed back into the blood stream." Owen cocked his head to one side as he thought out loud. Tosh nodded, Gwen tried her best to look like she understood but Jack frowned.

"Would he be completely cleared of it?" Jack tapped his fingers on the metal railing in agitation.

"Eventually, yeah, but it wouldn't be an instant reversal." Owen turned round then and faced him, fixing Jack with his best 'I'm the medic here, deal with it' look. "Depending on his metabolism, it could take anywhere between a few hours and a few days for the compound to completely leave his system. From what I know of his diet and subsequent figure, I would say his metabolism is pretty damn fast, yeah?"

"Okay, okay, I get it. Start working on the blocker." Jack nodded and Owen turned back to his computer, knowing that the meeting was effectively finished now.

"Jack, Tosh and I are going to go get some pizzas for lunch, we'll be back in a bit." Gwen rubbed his arm gently, knowing how worried he was for Ianto.

"Me and Gwen will stay on alert for the Rift this afternoon… Why don't you go spend some more time with Ianto?" Tosh asked gently, knowing that he'd already come to the end of his tether. Jack sighed and looked over at her. He pulled her into a hug and murmured and 'thank-you' before following her out of the room and heading into his office.

He quickly removed his belt and braces, leaving them on the floor of his office as he moved aside the cover to the bunker and lowered himself down. He felt his way to the bed and found that Ianto had already shifted over, making space for him to slip under the covers next to him. Ianto cuddled closer to him and Jack's arms came instinctively around him, tucking his lover's head beneath his chin with a small sigh of relief. The physical contact felt good.

Ianto's hands ran absent patterns across his chest and stomach, one of his feet running across the back of his thigh as he shifted closer.

"Have you worked out how to fix me yet?" He asked gently, Jack squeezing him slightly.

"Almost. Owen's working on something at the moment. He thinks some chemical got into you through the scratch, designed to incapacitate you to make the attack easier." Jack tensed and Ianto's fingers moved up to stroke the back of his neck gently.

"It's a good job I didn't go home on my own then." Ianto mused.

"God, don't say that, Ianto… please, don't." Jack shook slightly and Ianto pulled back to watch him briefly.

"Jack, I'm not going anywhere, not now." He moved his head back to rest of Jack's chest, listening intently to the sound of his lover's heart and breathing. They were loud and comforting, wrapping around everything else and drowning out any other noise that tried to intrude.

He'd been lying in bed all day, listening to the comings and goings of the team. It had become something of a challenge for him to identify each person as they'd moved around. Jack had been easy – so had Owen – but Gwen had been a little harder and Tosh harder still. It wasn't until Tosh had come to sit by the manhole cover with her comm. device and chatted to him for a while that he managed to catalogue the sound of her for future reference.

"I know I'm still sick but… I feel like I'm falling apart, Jack, and I don't want to feel like that." Ianto ran his fingers across Jack's chest, knowingly brushing his thumb across one of Jack's nipples, suddenly desperate to be shown that he wasn't about to scatter like dust in the wind. He felt Jack's breath shudder and heard the hitch.

"I don't want to hurt you, not after last time." Jack wanted to turn him away, but somehow, he knew he couldn't.

"Please, Jack – I don't want to feel like glass every time you touch me." Ianto's voice broke as he whispered the one thing that had been eating away at him unconsciously. He wasn't even aware it had been until he said it but now he felt guilty. He was manipulating Jack to achieve purely selfish ends and he didn't want that. "God, I'm sorry… I don't know where that came from."

"I get that you're frustrated and you're scared, but you're always made of glass to me, Ianto. Always. One wrong move and you shatter, I've lost you for good." Jack's words were unexpected and Ianto looked up, seeing pain and bitterness in his lover's eyes as he stared upwards. Ianto pulled his face down and kissed him, harder than he'd meant to.

He felt Jack hesitate and slid his tongue along the older man's lips, making Jack moan gently, responding and suddenly desperate for Ianto to be closer. He held him tightly, constantly aware that one wrong move – one moment where he didn't pay attention – and he'd hurt him. Ianto wanted Jack completely, but he could feel the hesitation in his lover's touch, could sense the apprehension and the nerves and knew it wasn't fair to keep going. He would rather just be with Jack and enjoy the company and the security. With a sigh, he pulled away and curled closer to Jack's chest and the loud, comforting rhythm of his heart.

Jack kept his arms round Ianto and the younger man just closed his eyes. Jack ran his fingers absently across his lover's back. It was then that he realised Ianto hadn't eaten or drunk anything since the night before.

"You thirsty?" He felt the nod against his sternum.

"I had some tap water but it tasted like chemicals." Ianto shrugged and Jack couldn't help but smile a little.

"You really need to have something…" He thought for a moment, tracing absent, feather-light patterns with his finger tips. Ianto sighed and let his mind drift a little with the silence and Jack's throbbing heart beat. He felt his eyes drooping closed and his limbs growing heavy and just as he thought he might drift to sleep, Jack patted his arm and shifted beneath him. "Come on, let me up."

"Jack, no… just stay a little longer." Ianto glanced up at him and saw a smile on his lover's face which made him flinch inwardly.

"I'm going to go get us some food and the sooner I do it, the sooner I can be back down here and not have to leave again." He leaned down and kissed Ianto softly, a promise lingering on the younger man's lips as he sighed in resignation. "I'll be back in half an hour."

Ianto nodded mutely, more for himself than for Jack, and he listened to the sounds of Jack moving up the ladder and away from the office. For what felt like the hundredth time that day, he pulled Jack's pillow towards himself and curled around it.


	5. Chapter 5

This is the last of the chapters currently written, but I'm halfway through the next chapter (there's 1 or two chapters left to the story) so never fear :D Thanks for reading!

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CHAPTER 5

Jack walked across the plass with a determination that he didn't usually possess. He flicked his phone open and dialled the number of the local bistro. The young woman who worked there was good friends with Ianto and as soon as she heard that he was 'ill and confined to bed rest' she jumped at the chance to help.

Once she'd agreed to make some patches of bland soup, Jack arranged for a time to pick it up and moved off to the local Tesco. He wasted no time in grabbing a loaf of soft wholemeal bread and a tub of cream cheese, but he deliberated for a couple of minutes over which type of chocolate buttons to get. He settled on a bag of milk ones and another bag of white ones.

As soon as he'd paid for everything and checked his watch, he was heading back to the bistro, where he found himself bombarded by the young woman, Rosie, who shoved a bag of soup cartons into his arms. She put the cost on the tab Ianto had with her and Jack hurried back to the Hub.

He was back in the base twenty nine minutes after he left. He grabbed a couple of spoons and a knife and darted back through to his office. He shirked his coat off and hung it up before kicking his boots off and lowering himself and his bag of food into the bunker. He had to stand for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the gloom before he tentatively felt his way across to the bed.

"You can turn the light on if you want." Ianto sounded more than a little amused and it struck the Captain that he must've looked pretty funny to someone who could see perfectly well in the darkness. Jack was about to argue with his lover when he realised that he really couldn't see anything at all. It wouldn't be fun to try and eat soup in the current lighting situation.

He felt his way across the room to the desk and switched the lamp on, quickly throwing a discarded shirt over it to dull the light flooding from it. The bunker was lit by a half glow, tinged blue from the fabric wrapped around it. He let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting for a moment before he turned around and looked at Ianto, unable to help the smile that grew on his face.

For all intents and purposes, Ianto could just have been sleeping in. He was sitting up, one arm resting on his bent knees, blanket draped across his legs as his other hand rubbed his rather messy hair. He smiled back and gestured for Jack to come back over to the bed.

"What delights did Rosie whip up then?" Ianto wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Jack was just about to ask how he knew he'd been to Rosie's when the younger man cut in again. "I can see the logo on one of the tubs in the bag."

"Ah, right." Jack snorted softly as he climbed back onto the bed, settling himself back against the wall as he pulled the bag down around the contents. "Well, first up, we have some gorgeous leek and potato soup with no added pepper or butter."

He pulled one of the pots from the bag and eased the lid off, Ianto snatching it from him almost straight away.

"God, that smells amazing." The complete sincerity in Ianto's voice made him roll his eyes. To Jack, it smelt vaguely warm, with no real aroma to it at all.

Jack watched in disbelief as Ianto held the pot to his face and inhaled the steam coming from the soup in huge lungfuls, his eyes closed and possibly one of his more erotic sighs escaping his lips. Jack couldn't stop himself from staring. It was another few moments before Ianto opened his eyes and looked at Jack sceptically, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Sorry, right, okay. Next up is," Jack snapped his eyes from Ianto's, retrieving the next pot and peeling the lid off, "chicken noodle – so this one's mine."

He forced himself to concentrate on the food and pulled some slices of bread out and set about covering them with cream cheese while Ianto watched him. He always marvelled a little at how natural it felt to see Jack as the domesticated man he was being now. It was so far removed from the person Torchwood needed him to be and he seemed to really enjoy the chance to be 'normal'. He couldn't help but smile as he watched Jack painstakingly cut the bread and cream cheese into slices that would dip easily into the soup pots and he took the one being proffered happily.

"Thank you for doing this… I mean, you could be eating pizza and jam doughnuts but you're settling for the food of invalids." Ianto looked down at his soup and the half eaten slice of bread and frowned slightly, sighing and shaking off the thought.

"Hey, I like chicken noodle soup! Besides, pizza's no fun when I can't make lewd remarks to you over it." Jack grinned but it soon softened. "You know me, Ianto. I like the normal stuff."

Ianto nodded, ducking his head slightly as they ate in silence for a while. Neither of them needed to say what Jack had really meant, the truth was all too present between them. Jack liked to be able to have the life that was nothing more than a charade for him. He loved being able to pretend for just a few hours that he was a regular guy in a normal relationship with nothing more pressing than what type of take-out they should get.

He'd been getting more and more comfortable with the pretence and Ianto was under no illusions as to why. It was the simple fact that Ianto wasn't getting any younger. For himself, he knew that each day that passed when he was still alive and with Jack, he got more attached to the other man. He didn't want to think about what it was like for Jack. Instead, he turned the conversation back to lighter and infinitely more mundane topics in the typical diversion tactic they both adopted.

"So, how's Myfanwy doing without me?" He glanced up and saw the genuine smile on Jack's face and knew he'd made a wise decision.

*

The soup cartons lay empty and discarded on the bedside table, along with half the loaf of bread and a nearly empty container of cream cheese. Ianto, meanwhile, was settled happily between Jack's legs, resting back against him with his lover's arms around him and a torn open packet of milk chocolate buttons in his lap.

"You know," Jack murmured as he picked up one of the buttons and held it up for Ianto to eat from his fingers, "this is possibly the weirdest erotic meal I've ever had."

"You know you love it." Ianto grinned and pressed himself just a little further back into Jack's arms, feeling the one around his waist tighten just a little. He claimed another chocolate button with his lips and felt Jack chuckle gently. He closed his eyes and felt the thin piece of chocolate melting in his mouth, tasting a thousand times more potent than they would've tasted the day before.

It didn't taste like chocolate, not the way he'd known for the twenty five years of his life, but it tasted good – unusual, yes, but good. The safe, familiar taste of the chocolate was suddenly thrown open to make his mouth water and his taste buds shoot into overdrive. It was good, but he was starting to get tired of the ADHD reaction of his neurons every time he deigned to sense something.

"Jack, when will Owen have something?" Ianto twisted his head slightly to lay it sideways against the front of Jack's shoulder. He felt Jack sigh and couldn't help but feel his heart sink a little. That couldn't be good. He linked his fingers gently through Jack's and stole another chocolate button.

"He's working as fast as he can, but I think it might be a bit hit and miss. We don't have any records on the compound so he's working from scratch." Jack leaned his cheek on the top of Ianto's head and Ianto shrugged a little.

"Well… at least I get the day off work." Ianto forced a grin and picked at a few more buttons, beating Jack's hand to the packet and laughing at the feigned growl of annoyance. It vibrated through Jack's chest and rung in his ears and Ianto felt himself get lost in it for a moment. _No_. He forced himself to concentrate on other things and pushed back the niggling voice telling him that having sex with Jack with his heightened senses would be fucking fantastic.

They returned to their pensive silences, interrupted only by the rustle of the packet as they each reached for chocolate buttons on occasion. Jack let his mind wander to his increasingly frequent daydream of having a normal life, away from Torchwood, where he could grow old and watch the world go by without being left behind. He was hit by the usual surge of fear and desperation and spoke before he could stop himself.

"When all this is over we should just pack up and leave." He spoke slightly too loud and Ianto sat up, turning round to face with a hint of a frown, as if trying to decipher his words. Jack just stared at him, a trace of a smile on his face.

"For good?" As Ianto settled back against him, Jack found himself stuck for words. He hadn't expected that reply. He'd expected a snark or some sarcasm, something about how much he'd love to apart from that inconvenient little fact that the Rift washed up all sorts of psychotic alien trash.

"Maybe." Jack wrapped his arms back around Ianto and the younger man nestled closer to him, the chocolate buttons pushed to one side and ignored for the time being.

He felt Ianto's fingers stroking his arm in absent, soothing patterns. How many times had he felt that in the pitch black, lying awake at night in that small moment of calm after a rocketing orgasm and before sleep claimed one or the other of them? Those were the moments that made him wonder if it was all worth it. Was the pain and the heartache that he'd suffered so far, and would undoubtedly continue to suffer, all worth it for those moments with Ianto? Jack was pretty sure it was.

He rested his palm surreptitiously against Ianto's chest, feeling his heartbeat gently through his ribs, skin and t-shirt. He began to imagine it as Ianto must be hearing his, loud and constant and completely reassuring. He felt Ianto shift against him slightly and looked down to meet his eyes.

"Where would we go?" He spoke softly, his gaze searching, half sincere, half playful.

"I've always wanted to go to Japan… Osaka, Hiroshima… you know, to see the temples and the culture." Toshiko had raved about her homeland for a long time when Jack had first employed her. They'd discussed their travels and Jack had been eager to learn all about Tosh's home. The ancient culture fascinated him.

"But you don't speak Japanese." Ianto grinned and Jack raised an eyebrow in contradiction.

"Sure, I do. How do you think me and Tosh passed the nights when it was just us two insomniacs?" He smirked at that and Ianto laughed gently. "And I know she taught you last year, when you were on leave."

Ianto sobered up a little them and nodded his agreement, looking away and resting his head back on Jack's shoulder. His fingers picked up their absent stroking patterns again and Jack focussed on Ianto and only Ianto, hoping he would continue the conversation.

"What about Egypt? I've always wanted to see the pyramids." Ianto's tone was casual – a little too casual. Jack was desperate to know what was going on inside his head, but he knew better than to ask.

"They aren't as great as you'd think." Jack had been to Egypt on several occasions – both before and after he'd become immortal. With the Time Agency, he'd locked some artefacts within the tombs, with the Doctor he'd been locked inside himself and with Torchwood, he'd scavenged everything in there that he'd left on his first visit. Despite his protests, his boss had maintained that as Jack was going to live forever, it didn't matter if he had some ancient Egyptian curses laid on him. "What about somewhere in Europe? Italy, maybe."

"Why not France? You've always taken… people to Paris." Ianto's voice suddenly fell back to normal, a trace of expectation and something akin to hurt. "I'd like to go to Paris with you."

They both knew that Jack had filed many 'weekend leave' forms over the decades to take whoever he was shagging at the time to Paris. He'd wine and dine them for three days, sex and champagne at his fingertips for whenever he wanted it. He'd not done it since he'd taken over the team, however. There just hadn't been the time. When he'd been shagging Suzie – for those few weeks between her arriving and him realising she really wasn't his type – the thought had crossed his mind, but never come to fruition.

When he and Ianto had first started their regular shagging sessions in the archives, he'd entertained the thought as well. He'd been seriously considering sitting down and booking them both out for a field trip to 'explore unusual readings abroad' when the visitors from the past fell into their lives. Everything had gone to hell then and before he knew it, Jack was with the Doctor and entertaining the sickening sensation that Ianto was a hundred worlds away. By the time he got back, Jack knew Paris was one place he'd never take the young man.

"So would I… but don't you think that fact that we've not gone says a whole lot more?" Jack looked down at his lover then, the younger man falling still in contemplation. He watched as a small smile grew slowly across Ianto's face as he sighed gently, the tension subtly leaving his body as he wove their fingers together.

Ianto silently wrestled with the thought Jack had just hinted at. He'd never really considered it before, just assuming that they hadn't gone away purely because they couldn't. Jack was the boss after all and was needed in Cardiff whenever possible. He'd never stopped to think that there might be reason. He hadn't even realised just how much of the niggling paranoia in the back of his head had been eased by such a simple sentence.

"I'm glad you're here, Jack." Ianto brought their joined hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to his lover's knuckles. Jack didn't reply – he didn't entirely trust himself to speak – but Ianto didn't mind. As per usual, they'd managed to skirt around the real topic completely.

After a long few minutes, he felt Jack shift and pull the almost empty packet of chocolate buttons back towards him, tipping the remaining handful into his palm and offering it to Ianto. Between them, they finished off the chocolate and returned, yet again to normal, mundane chat about nothing in particular.

*

Jack emerged from his office a little over an hour later. Ianto had been asleep for a good twenty minutes and he was eager to see whether Owen had made any real progress yet. He'd left the medic alone for longer than he would've liked and he was desperately hoping that the waiting had been worth it.

"What've you got for me?" He kept his voice as light hearted as he could, moving forwards to lean on the railing at the top of the autopsy bay and look down at Owen. The medic turned around with a sigh.

"I've got the first possibility and I've run it through all the tests I can. I want to give him a low dose injection and see how he fares over the next couple of hours. I should know whether it's working or not by then." Owen grimaced apologetically and Jack nodded slowly. It wasn't exactly what he'd hoped for, but it was better than nothing.

"How many times do you think he'll be needing injections over the next day?" Jack had the horrible vision of having to stick Ianto with needles every few hours for days on end.

"Three or four times, maybe? Hopefully only once or twice though… but I think the best way to get the proper dose into him in the end is via a drip, rather than overload his system with one concentrated injection." Owen glanced over his shoulder and the vial of blocker he'd been synthesising over the past few hours. He'd discovered in one of his tests that too much caused a reaction that would probably cause severe swelling in a human body.

"Would it be worth putting in a cannular at the beginning?" The thought was sudden, but he didn't really know enough about the method to judge himself.

"I don't know, they can be pretty painful to put in and sore for the rest of the time." Owen chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment and looked off to one side with a slight frown. He suddenly winced and turned back to Jack. "I think it'd be better to just take each injection as it comes. That way, the pain lasts for only a second or two and it's not quite so strong."

"Okay, fair enough. Do you want to give him the first injection now?" Jack gripped the metal rail and leaned back, stretching out his arms. Owen rubbed his eyes and nodded.

"Yeah, there's no better time really. I'll need you to monitor him for a few hours and check in with me every so often. I'll give him a once over at the end and take it from there." The medic turned around and collected a fresh syringe, a piece of cotton wool, some numbing gel and the vial of blocker. He turned around and met Jack's weary look for a moment. Finally, the Captain nodded.

"I guess we should get this over with then." Jack waited for Owen to join him at the top of the stairs and the two of them made their way down to the bunker.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys! Sorry for the ridiculous wait for updates again!

Just to fill you in on what's going on; some of you may have seen on my LJ that I'm taking an indefinite hiatus from all things Torchwood, due to a growing dislike for current 'projects' of a certain someone over in America. As such, I'll not be writing much new stuff for the forseeable future, but who knows,maybe I'll be back as a Torchwood fic writer someday =] For now, I'll focus on just updating my profile and upload all the oneshots and smaller fics that may have slipped through the cracks between here and LJ

As for this fic, I'm hoping o write the final chapter sometime very soon, though I think it's safe to say that there will be little to no smut involved - which means the epilogue I'd initally visualised isn't going to be written. I hope the ending still works out well and I hope you enjoy this chapter (the penultimate) and the final one when it appears!

Thank you all so much for the support and comments over the last couple of years. My Torchwood fanfic has been a pretty huge part of my free time and I'm a little sad to find myself so disillusioned, but hopefully, more stuff might arrive, as I do have a few half written ideas that I'd still like to see realised.

In the mean time though, for those of you who might be bothered, I'll be starting to write in the Merlin/Arthur fandom. I've already written and posted my first fic for the fandom up on my LJ and will be adding it to here soon =] - I'd love to see some friendly names in comments, but if you're strictly Torchwood fans then I don't blame you. However, keep watching this space in the future.

* * *

CHAPTER 6

"I told you, I don't feel any different to how I was last time." Ianto muttered as Owen continued to scan him, poking various parts of him and applying different amounts of pressure to gauge any changes in his sensitivity.

He'd given Ianto the first dose almost five hours earlier and it was clear that his first attempt at a cure wasn't working. The actual injection had been performed with a great deal of tension and jaw gritting on all three of their parts, but it'd been no where near as traumatising for any of them as that first blood draw. Owen suspected that giving the two lovers time to be together and adapt slightly to Ianto's bizarre senses had served to ease both of their minds.

"Okay, okay. You're right." He snapped the scanner shut and put it down on the desk behind him, rubbing his eyes hard. It had been a long day. "There're some minor changes in the levels, but whether that's from your body adapting slightly, the drug or just general deterioration of the compound, I don't know. Sorry, Jack. It might take a while longer to sort out. I'll get these scans analysed and start working on a new formula."

He tucked his scanner back into his pocket and clambered up out of the bunker. It had been a very long day, and he knew there would be a good few hours left to go before he could even think about clocking off.

He trudged round to the bottom of the autopsy bay and plugged in the scanner, uploading the information he'd just gathered. Wearily, he dropped into his seat and closed his eyes as he sunk down. He'd been wracking his mind for any way to relieve some of the discomfort of the compound's effects, but everything he'd thought about would dull one sense just to heighten another.

It had lead him to think of possible uses for the compound. He'd come to some interesting conclusions about it, but they'd need to be run past Jack. However, he did have an ace in the bag that he could pull out if Jack gave any resistance. As it was, he now needed to get back to work to help Ianto – his side project could wait for a few more hours.

*

"I feel gross." Ianto slumped awkwardly back against Jack, who wrapped his arms carefully around him.

"In what way? Because I need to know which line to spin." Jack grinned and Ianto growled gently.

"I mean that I've been lying here for... a long time? I need a proper wash and the urge to brush my teeth is getting ridiculous." Ianto looked thoroughly unhappy.

"Has temperature been affected by this thing?" Jack asked gently, the thought not having occurred to him in so far. Ianto hadn't seemed to have an issue with eating the soup, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

"No, I don't think so... Why? What're you thinking?" Ianto twisted slightly to fix Jack with a scrutinising look.

"How about you slip the ear defenders back on for fifteen minutes and I'll show you?" Jack raised his eyebrows and grinned and Ianto, who knew that look anywhere, sighed and nodded.

"If you insist." Ianto said in a faux weary voice. Jack pressed a kiss to his forehead and reached over to the bedside table, retrieving the ear defenders and slipping them back over Ianto's ears. Carefully, he eased himself from behind his lover, kissing him soundly as he did so, and disappeared into the small en-suite bathroom on the other side of the bunker.

Jack carefully closed the door behind him and turned the light on. He moved to the bathtub, put the plug in and sat on the edge as he turned the taps. There was a grinding sound from the walls as the water pipes filled and either expanded with the incoming hot water or contracted a little from the cold water. There'd been times in his past where Jack had thought a Weevil was loose in the Hub, only to find that it was the pipes in the walls.

As Jack considered seeing if he could get the pipe work around the bunker replaced, he glanced around, trying to see if he had any bubble bath and was in mixed minds about whether he was glad or not to be out of such a commodity. The fact that he didn't boded well for his masculinity, but he couldn't deny that it would've been nice – albeit, not essential – in this circumstance.

He waited for the rattling and protesting of the pipes to quieten and swirled the water together absently with the tips of his fingers. It was still a little hot, but not painfully so. He adjusted the amount of cold water flowing in and went back to trailing his fingers through the water. It had been a while since he'd indulged in a really good bath.

He remembered a time when he would frequently spend an hour or two soaking in some hot water after a long day at work – he'd even ordered an unusually large tub to allow for a bit more comfort. Memories of sharing baths on occasion with Ianto brought a smile to his face. With a sigh, he tapped his fingers on the rim of the tub and counted down from twenty, watching the water level rise to just the right point, before turning the taps off to the semi-methodical cacophony of clunks and shudders from the pipes.

He dipped his hand in until his palm lay flat across the bottom of the bath and he judged, due to the ever so slight scolding of his arm, that it was the perfect temperature. He glanced up and found steam already swirling around near the ceiling.

As an afterthought, he dug through the cabinet under the sink and found an old box of plain candles. He used to use them in 'the good old days' when the electricity was prone to being cut off after his superiors left for the night. Even when they'd installed their supposedly 'highly efficient' generator, he'd kept the candles on hand. They'd proved useful a few times in the early years of that first generator.

Now though, he dug two or three out and propped them on the sink, in line with the taps. He put a couple on top of the toilet's cistern lid and he retrieved an old box and very large box of Cook's Matches from the cupboard. He quickly moved around the room, lighting a grand total of seven candles before he turned the light off and opened the door.

He picked his way back over to Ianto, who was lying on his side, eyes closed and a heightened degree of tension in his face. Jack grimaced slightly and ran a hand along Ianto's arm so as not to startle him when he pressed the release on the defenders and eased them away. Ianto looked up with a gratefully and pushed himself up so his lips hovered an inch or so from Jack's.

"So... what've you got for me?" He breathed, making a smile curl at Jack's lips before he closed the gap and kissed Ianto slowly, tugging gently at his lower lip before pulling back and taking his hands.

Ianto got to his feet and Jack carefully covered his eyes, guiding him into the bathroom before moving them away in a 'ta-da!' motion. Ianto grinned and laughed gently, pecking Jack on the cheek in thanks. He let Jack help him out of his pyjamas, not pointing out that he could see better than Jack or that Jack's fingers and palms were taking the very long and winding route across his body as he worked. He paused for a moment, expecting Jack to strip his own clothes off, but he made no move to do so, only taking the time to fold Ianto's clothes carefully and put them in the clothes hamper in the corner.

"Something wrong?" Ianto asked, snaking his hands under Jack's t-shirt to caress his skin.

"No?" Jack glanced over his shoulders, eyebrows raised a little.

"Then why are you making no move to get undressed?" Ianto frowned as Jack's lips stretched into a smile

"Oh no, this one's all yours." Jack grinned and kissed him gently, Ianto understanding and feeling more than a little embarrassed at his assumption.

"Stay and talk to me a bit?" He asked, Jack's grin fading to something more personal and Ianto returned it as Jack gently pushed him towards the full, steaming bath. He took Jack's hand to steady himself as he stepped in and carefully eased himself down into the water.

"You know, I just had a really good idea." Jack said abruptly, vanishing out of the door just as Ianto looked up to him, a witty retort waiting right on the tip of his tongue. He wasn't going to deny being minorly put out at not being able to voice it. Jack appeared back a moment later, brandishing a book. "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."

Ianto couldn't help but smile at the look on Jack's face. He loved that book, and Ianto had been very pleased to find out that his own passion for the rogue detective was mirrored by his lover. Of course, Jack had lived through the initial publications and hearing Jack's enthusiasm as he told of all his Sherlock Holmes related escapades from the time was a wonderful thing.

Ianto nodded and Jack settled down beside the bath, his back against the tub as he began to read. Ianto lay back in the water and closed his eyes, reaching out one of his hands to run through Jack's hair. With his heightened senses, he could feel each hair, tough and straw-like, though thankfully as a whole, it was still as soft and silky as ever.

Ianto closed his eyes, ignored the hard, smooth surface of the bath against his skin and let Jack's voice and the water wash over him.

*

Ianto waited until the last possible moment to tell Jack that he was beginning to get cold, waiting for a pause in the story before tapping him a couple of times on the head and starting to hoist himself out of the water. Jack was already on his feet and holding out the softest towel he'd been able to find as Ianto set his feet on dry land again.

He smiled and hummed his approval as Jack wrapped the material around him and gently rubbed his body to dry it off. He found a second towel draped over his head as Jack rubbed his hair a little harder. Ianto couldn't help but feel about five years old again and was surprised to find that he wasn't particularly averse to it.

"Feeling a bit better after that?" Jack asked gently, pushing the towel down round his shoulders and smiling at Ianto.

"Definitely." He leaned forwards and kissed Jack gently, fully aware that if he got too absorbed, Jack's pheromones could easily over power him. He pulled back a little reluctantly.

"What would you like to do now?" Jack asked. Ianto had been crowded into bed for the past day and even on the rare occasions that he fell ill, Ianto didn't like spending too much time cooped up.

"How about getting out of the bunker to stretch my legs?" Ianto asked with a slightly childish grin. Jack nodded with a smile.

"Sounds like a plan." Ianto grinned and Jack couldn't help but chuckle as they went back through to the bedroom and Jack dug out some clean boxers, a pair of jogging bottoms and a clean t-shirt. As Ianto pulled on a pair of soft, thick socks, Jack dug around his desk and found an old pair of sunglasses. The lights were still on in the Hub, even if they were dimmed, but the glasses would take the edge off the light.

"Are these yours?" Ianto asked a little dubiously as Jack put the glasses on him. Jack nodded.

"Yep, real-life 1936 Ray-Ban aviators." Jack smiled at the bizarre way those sunglasses had survived the Second World War and the decades since. He'd been very proud to receive a pair when they were initially released exclusively to fighter pilots.

"I feel like I should be in Top Gun." Ianto said, adjusting the frames slightly.

"I'm cooler than Tom Cruise... and taller." Jack said, a little defensively. Ianto grinned.

"Yes, you are." He patted Jack on the chest patronisingly and turned and climbed up the ladder, shifting the half open cover and climbing out. Jack joined him a moment later and they made their way out into the Hub, Ianto stretching his arms and back as if he was about to go for a run. "That feels so good."

Ianto sighed happily and the sound alerted them to Owen's attention. It appeared Gwen and Tosh where either out on a run or had finally left to get some sleep. It was getting quite late in the evening after all.

"You're up and about then?" He asked, a little louder than necessary, but Ianto was prepared to put up with it. Instead, he cocked an eyebrow.

"So it would seem." He tried to match Owen's volume and the medic smiled slyly.

"Good, it saves me from having to venture into our dear Captain's love-den to have another chat." Ianto snorted at that and followed Owen into the autopsy bay, leaving an indignant looking Jack standing just outside his office.

"It is not a 'love-den'! Just because we happen to have sex in there alot does not make it some kind of kinky hideaway." Jack moved to stand next to Ianto at the top of the stairs, a pout on his face. Ianto looked at him over the top of the sunglasses, matching the look Owen was fixing him from the floor below. "Okay, okay... sometimes it's a love-den – but not often enough to be called one all the time!"

"That's something I didn't need to hear." Owen muttered, turning back to his computer. He tapped at his keyboard a few times and brought up displays from microscopes on the wall in front of them all. "Okay, steering away from that potentially scarring conversation, these are the effects of the different solutions I've been trying."

"How are they different?" Ianto asked, studying the images.

"The injection I gave you was an enzyme suspended in a saline base, but with the concentration I gave you, it was barely moving a few feet through your blood stream before being absorbed." Owen called up some more graphs and diagrams, but neither of the other two understood them particularly. "I know that the enzyme dislodges and breaks up the compound from applying it directly to a sample, but my problem is what to use to make a solution. These slides are different concentrations of saline and a couple that bind the enzymes into bigger clumps with wheat gluten."

"And the larger clumps mean the solution travels further?" Ianto asked, keeping up reasonably well with Owen's dumbed down explanation.

"Theoretically? Yeah." Owen avoided Jack's eyes, but thankfully, the glare being directed at him didn't have the chance to be verbalised as Ianto cut in.

"But?" The warning tone was in his voice, but it was nowhere near as dangerous as Jack's would've been.

"But the wheat gluten isn't allowing the enzymes to get where they want to... so I have to go back to finding something to transport the enzyme more effectively." Owen swivelled on his chair a little, as if pondering what to say next. Ianto was beginning to get an inkling of what might be his next suggestion. "The only other thing that might be affecting the efficiency of the enzymes is the location I inject it into you."

"I'm willing to bet that using the top of my arm isn't the fastest way to my..." Ianto frowned and glanced at Jack, who seemed to be in deep contemplation. He looked back at Owen. "Where is it you're targeting?"

"Your nervous system." The medic replied. A silence fell across them and Owen found Jack staring darkly at the floor.

"The fastest way to that is through the spine, correct?" Ianto said a little haltingly. He didn't like the thought of what would come next.

"Yep... only problem is, I can't sedate you and no matter how much we restrain you or numb the area, it'll hurt. Alot. It's bad enough without your hyperactive senses, but it would be a whole new level of pain." Owen grimaced as he looked at Ianto. He couldn't read his eyes behind the sunglasses, but the set of his jaw and the way his hands clung tightly to the metal railing told him the idea wasn't much appreciated.

"Pain means flinching, flinching means movement and movement means complications." Jack said, surprising them both. Ianto turned to look at him. He suddenly looked very old and very tired.

"It would also have to be a drip fed in over an hour or two, giving a constant supply of the enzyme. If I did it in one injection, the concentration would be too high and, from what I can tell, could do more damage than good to your system."

"Okay then. Long, painful cure with plenty that could go wrong. I like it – very Torchwood." Ianto smirked humourlessly and let go of the railings. "At the moment, what're the chances that you find a solution of the enzyme that'll travel through a normal IV and sort this all out?"

"I might be able to do it, but it could take weeks – if not months."

"I don't want to stay like this for that long. We may as well just leave my body to filter itself on its own for that length of time... It might take years, but it would happen eventually." Ianto was suddenly all business, ignoring the curious look Jack was fixing him with. "With this straight into my spine option, what's the likelihood of being able to carry out the process?"

"Ignoring possible complications - pretty high. The current solution I'm working on is a tweaked version of what I injected you with. That works extremely well when applied directly to your clogged up blood. All I'd need to do is inject you with it and take some scans and then work out the concentration needed and mix up a large enough batch." Owen looked Ianto dead in the eye – or at least, dead in the face. He hoped he was looking him dead in the eye. He was slightly gratified to see he was when Ianto lowered the glasses slightly.

"And the time estimate?" He asked carefully. Both of them were amazed at how little Jack was inputting into the conversation.

"By tomorrow afternoon, the day after at the very latest." Owen replied. They stared hard at each other for a long moment before Ianto slid the glasses back over his eyes and nodded. He leaned back and slapped his palms down on the metal railing.

"What're we waiting for then?" Ianto said with his usual efficiency. Owen felt a smile curling at his own lips and he granted the tea-boy some kudos for how he was handling the situation.

"Alright, come down here and let me give you an injection of the altered solution. Jack can monitor you for me over night and I'll take scans in the morning when I get in." Owen turned back to the counters behind him and began preparing a syringe.

Up by the railing, Ianto slid his hand into Jack's and squeezed gently. He leaned his head against Jack's temple and closed his eyes for a moment. Jack's stiff posture relaxed a little and he let go of Ianto's hand, sliding an arm around his waist. Ianto felt a small swell of comfort in his chest and hesitantly left Jack's embrace to go down to where Owen was waiting, immensely thankful to find Jack following him.

He sat on the metal table and Jack moved to stand between his legs, resting an arm around his neck. Ianto leaned into Jack's chest and let Owen roll up his sleeve and firmly grip him just above the elbow. Without any warning, the medic swiftly plunged the needle into his skin, not relinquishing his now painful grip as Ianto's arm flinched until all of the solution had been injected. Ianto bit back a howl of pain and gritted his teeth, just waiting for it to be over.

It only lasted for a second or two before the syringe was pulled out and Owen had let go. Jack's hand moved to the puncture mark and pressed a piece of cotton wool to it gently but firmly. Ianto took a couple of deep breaths before sitting up properly and taking over from Jack. He smiled his thanks to both of them and jumped to his feet.

"Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to stretch my legs. I'll leave you two to yell at each other." Ianto slipped out from Jack's personal space and quickly made his way up the stairs and out into the Hub. The tension had been brewing the moment Owen mentioned the spinal drip and he didn't want to be around as they both exploded.

Knowing there was only a matter of seconds before the yelling began, he quickly made his way across the basin and into the tunnels that lead to the lower levels. His aim was one of the only soundproofed rooms in the Hub – the firing range.


End file.
